The First Step
by Sode no Shirayuki1411
Summary: Roxie attempts to ask Marlon out on a date. Again. It's not going well. Plotless drabble. Roxie x Marlon, mentioned Elesa x Skyla. One-shot.


**What even is this? I wrote this for a new pairing I started shipping, for no reason whatsoever, in one sitting and my headache is killing me. There is no plot to this, there is no _point_ to this. I hope you like it anyway. Enjoy.**

* * *

The First Step

* * *

The other Gym Leader looked up, white teeth bright against his dark skin as he grinned at her, "You ready to leave?"

Roxie nodded wordlessly, twisting her wide sleeves in white-knuckled hands.

The two of them were leaving the Aspertia Gym where the last of the triannual Gym Leader get-togethers had been held this year. And this time, unlike the last two times this year, Roxie was going to ask Marlon on a date.

Well, that had been the plan originally but Roxie's courage was fast leaving her, she could strum a guitar and scream out lyrics in front of hundreds and had faced many others -Marlon himself included!- in Pokemon battles without breaking a sweat but she couldn't ask the guy she liked on a damn date without her tongue getting tied and her palms getting clammy and Butterfrees exploding in her tummy and...!

Okay, nope, not happening, Roxie's confidence had well and truly fled, maybe she would just ask Marlon out for coffee and they could hopefully work their way up from there? Yeah, that sounded like a better idea. Really, Roxie didn't even know if Marlon had any inclination to see her _that_ way, asking him out on a date out of the blue was a bad idea, surely.

Elesa, Roxie's friend and confidant had told her being upfront about it was better than going around the issue with coffee or something similar, less chance of Marlon misinterpreting her feelings or someone else snapping him up first but Elesa was as smooth with her girlfriend Skyla as she was on stage, she didn't understand the crippling nerves Roxie had to fight through.

Roxie stopped walking because she had to be careful with this, the last time she had walked out of the Gym Leader's group meeting, this one in Nimbassa City, she had tried to ask Marlon out then too and had been so focused on doing so that she unthinkingly agreed to accompany him to the Nimbassa Amusement Park and was then forced to spend a day that should have been filled with fun in a state of mute terror least she lose control of her mouth and blurt out her growing feelings for the other Gym Leader. The time before that, at the first of this year's three Gym Leader meet-ups, she had been so focused on asking Marlon out without swallowing her own tongue that she completely lost track of her surroundings and by the time she looked up she and Marlon were in the Castelia Art Museum and the lady behind the front desk was cooing over what a cute couple they made and Roxie had almost _died_ from embarrassment and then there was the time before that, last year when-

Yeah, best to keep her wits about her.

Seeing that she was no longer following him, Marlon glanced back at her, blue eyes curious, "the new restaurant that opened up by Route 19 is supposed to be amazing, I thought we'd check it out. You still want to go with me…right?" For possibly the first time since she'd met him, Marlon sounded unsure.

Dimly Roxie remembered that she'd already agreed to go get coffee with Marlon before the meeting but when they'd been getting ready to leave he'd told her about a new restaurant Cheren had told him about and asked her to accompany him there instead. Oh dear Arceus… what was wrong with her brain! Usually she was so outgoing and confident but one guy had the ability to turn her brain to mush! This was so unfair! Thank Mew she hadn't asked Marlon out for coffee then, that would have been mortifying.

"Yeah," said Roxie, finally registering that he'd asked her a question, "of course I do."

"Great," Marlon shot her another dazzling smile and the pair resumed walking.

Well, now she could asking him out for coffee or food some other time and it wouldn't be weird at least.

Roxie stopped walking again as her brain finally registered what was going on. That restaurant Cheren mentioned was famous for catering to _couples,_ she'd heard about it, and she and Marlon…

"Wait…" Roxie was almost afraid to ask, no way it could be that easy, "are you… asking me out?"

The last three words dropped to a whisper but Marlon still heard them, he winked at her, "I have been for over a year now, but thanks for finally catching on."

 _Oh. My. Mew._ Was Roxie's last thought before her -stupid, dumb, no-good, useless- brain gave out on her and fizzed out completely.

"Oh," she said articulately.

"So… are you coming?" Marlon asked, and yeah, he definitely sounded nervous, "or better yet, since clearly I should be blunt; Roxie, will you go out on a date with me?"

 _Oh Arceus yeah!_ Roxie thought, a grin slowly lighting up her own face, "heck yeah!" She said out loud.

"Great," Marlon replied, smiling back.

Those Butterfrees were no longer exploding in her chest, instead they were popping, sending bubbles of delight through her bloodstream and up into her heart.

Roxie laughed, "race you there!" She yelled, even though she didn't totally know the way, and took off down the street. Marlon yelled at her for cheating and took off after her.

Yeah she might still be a bumbling idiot around the guy she liked, Roxie admitted to herself, but right now her life was pretty perfect.

* * *

 **Why did I write this? I have 10000000000 other fanfiction that need my attention and I haven't written anything in ages; now this? Where did this come from?**

 **Now I want to write about other gym leader pairings. Who do you guys think I should write about?**

 **Thanks for reading guys. Bye!**


End file.
